Swan Song
by the electric phantom
Summary: "When a swan knows that it's about to die, it sings more beautifully than it does during the course of its entire life. This is my swan song... the rest of my life" Takes place from episode one all the way to the end.
1. Skills

**A.N.: Okay! Here is an idea that I've been thinking about for a bit. It's AU from "Skills," but will go through the entire series... all 52 episodes, plus a lot more drama. This is the starting chapter. And, no, it won't all be Jeith. Everyone of the characters who are in the diner when this is all explained will be highlighted and fleshed out. I just started with that.**

"Do you understand the seriousness of what you are about to do?" Jessica asked Keith. She looked stoic, but she was actually completely freaking out on the inside. Her best friend was joining The Electric Company! This was exciting!

"I do," he said, looking her in the eye for a brief moment, where he showed just how excited he was.

"Do you understand the power that lives inside words?" Lisa asked. She too, was excited, but not as much as Jessica. This was more than an initiation. Something major was going to happen today; she knew it.

"I do."

"Do you accept this power and all the responsibility that comes with it?"

Keith was about to answer, but something felt wrong. She saw Francine coming towards them, her intentions clear to Jessica. Without thinking, she shoved Keith out of the way, throwing him into Francine.

When she'd received her skill, there had been a pleasant tingling sensation, like being tickled with a feather. But this time, it was a burning. The pain was so intense, all she wanted was for it to end. She heard her name being shouted in the distance, but there was no way for her to tell. She blacked out.

"Jessica!"

"Jess?"

"Come on, sis, wake up."

"Wh-what happened?"

"Sh! She's waking up!"

Her eyes fluttered open. Her head hurt, and she could barely breathe.

"Keith," she managed to say hoarsely. The colors that had been swimming in front of her were starting to focus. She saw Keith right in front of her. She reached for his hand, which he gave her.

"Repeat.. me," she instructed, "I willingly take this special skill."

"I willingly take this special skill," he repeated. She patted his hand clumsily.

"I'm fine," she said, sitting up.

"Alright, what just happened?" Leo asked. Jessica looked around.

There was no one there. It was only Leo, Shock, and the rest of the company. The lights had been turned off, and everyone was staring at each other nervously, unsure how to answer the question.

"You know the line that says about the responsibility?" Hector asked. Leo nodded.

"We have three responsibilities," Lisa said, "We can't lie unless to defend either ourselves or others from harm."

"Right," Hector agreed, "And we have to help the fight for good in some way or another."

"And we can't have more than three powers," Jessica finished.

"But what happens if you break one of those rules?" Shock asked. The official rules were top secret, and few were privy to them.

"Lying makes you lose your special skill," Hector said.

"Assuming you were doing it for gain and not good," Lisa added.

"Okay," Leo said, still working on processing everything that was going on.

"Not helping in the fight for good takes away all your powers," Hector said, "And the ability to gain powers, too. So, if you fall into a vat of toxic waste... nice knowing ya."

"And if you have three powers?" Leo prompted.

"Death," Keith said, finally speaking.

"Always?" Leo asked. The four with powers nodded.

"It's usually painful," Hector said.

"But there's a good chance in this situation, you know, for a while before death, Jess," Lisa said positively, "Normally, it's spontaneous combustion!"

"How do you all know this stuff?" Shock asked.

"It's an innate part of the powers. Just like being able to hear 'hey, you guys,'" Jessica explained.

"So, wait," Leo said, "Because Jessica stopped Francine from stealing Keith's powers-"

"Yeah, I'll have a painful death, most likely before my time in a weird way."

"Can't you take some sort of medicine to prevent it?" Shock asked sensibly.

"That makes it worse," Hector said, shaking his head.

** Keith's POV**

How can everyone be so calm about this? Hector doesn't seem to mind. Lisa's just going to assume that her death will be prolonged. Dad's thoughts are clearly on Mom. Shock at least seems concerned about what's going to happen. And Jessica... Jessica is just so calm about it all. This is her death sentence, and it doesn't seem to mean anything to her!

It's my fault. It's all my fault. If I hadn't gotten the power, this would never have happened. How can Jess look me in the eye, after giving her life so that I wouldn't lose my stupid power to Francine.

"I need air," I said before running out of the diner. This was all my fault. Jessica was going to die, and it was because of me. I'm not worth it. Why couldn't she have seen that? Why did she have to be so noble? Why?

The next thing I know, I'm in my mom's room.

No one knows what happened to her. One day, she just stopped breathing. She's been on life support for five years now. Five years on medicine. If this was the same thing, then she would die an extremely painful death. Could it be? I mean, she has the power.

"Mom, what happened? Is it happening again? Why Jessica?" I blinked furiously. No crying in this room. Dad and I set up that rule four years ago. This is Mom's room. She wouldn't want us crying over her.

"Keith," came a gentle voice. I'd recognize it anywhere, but still couldn't believe. How did Jess know I was here? Did she follow me? And more importantly, why do I care? Jessica could drop dead any minute. I should be grateful she wants to spend any of her time left with me.

"It's okay," she whispered in my ear.

"You're going to die," I said rather bluntly.

"We all do eventually."

"Yeah, but you're dying because of me."

"Keith, have you ever heard of a swan song?" I shook my head.

"When a swan knows that it's about to die, it sings more beautifully than it does during the course of its entire life. This is my swan song... the rest of my life."

"You shouldn't have to die yet."

"It'll be worth it in the end."

**A.N.: So, that's the first chapter. It's a work in progress that I find rather fascinating. If you guys could review, I would be extremely grateful. As you know, I'm sort of morbid, so this won't be all rainbows and sunshine. But it won't be too depressing. Review, please!**


	2. Scent of a Human

**A.N.: Thank you to Despicable Dramione Chic11 for being my first reviewer and all-around great friend! This is the next chapter, a sort of tag to Scent of a Human. I hope you like it! It's just a cute little bit of sibling fluff, which I know some of you guys L-O-V-E! **

Hector sighed as he unlocked the door to the apartment. He'd gone out on a date with this girl Ashley Dunco, a girl who'd fallen in love with his rap music video. Of course, it hadn't really worked out. He sighed. The house was silent. Except for tears. He walked into Jessica's room.

"Hey, sis," he whispered. Jessica looked up, wide-eyed and wiping her eyes.

"Hey. How was your date?" Hector chuckled.

"That's not important. You haven't been talking about what's going on."

"You know why. I can't tell Mom and Dad."

Jessica had been stubborn about this point. Ever since going after Keith, she had decided that she would not tell their parents. She claimed that they would try to tie her to life even after she was supposed to be long gone.

"Well, then, you can still talk to me. Come on, we're here by ourselves. Mom and Dad are out. We won't be interrupted."

He sat down next to her on the bed.

"Come on, Jess. Talk to me, please," he whispered.

"What can I tell you that you don't already know? I'm going to die. It could happen tomorrow, it could happen in five years."

"You could tell me how you feel about it. You talked to Keith after he left the diner, and you haven't talked to me or Lisa or anybody about it since."

"There's nothing to talk about. I'm not going to let it get in the way of the rest of your lives."

"Sis, you've gotten in the way of our lives since you were _born_. Just talk to me."

She looked him directly in the eyes.

"Hector, I am dying. We don't know when or how, but it will be painful. There is nothing that anyone can do to stop it. You can't protect me."

For the first time, he really began to think about what this meant. Jessica was going to be gone. He couldn't do anything about it. That was just... insane. He put his arms around her.

"And I guess you don't want me to try and help you?"

"You're still talking to me. You treat me normally. That's all I can ask of you guys."

"We're your friends. We stick together no matter what. Besides, I'm your brother. I'm not going to give up on my little sister."

He pulled her into a rib-crushing hug, sending her into a fit of giggles. She fought him off and jumped on his lap.

"Hey! You're not five, sis!" he said, laughing. She laughed out loud.

"That was the era of the pony ride," she cried.

"No way!"

"There's no no way," she said seriously. He laughed.

"There's no downside to you, sis," he whispered.

"Except for that whole dying thing."

"Eh. We can work with that bit." He pulled her into a hug.

"Love you, sis."

"I love you, too," she whispered, kissing him on the cheek.

**A.N.: I feel kinda cruel doing all of this to you guys... again. I seem to enjoy this whole killing characters thing. Speaking of which, did you hear the news? Cote de Pablo didn't resign her contract with NCIS! That means no more Ziva :(. She's one of my favorite characters ever! Ah, well, that's not the TEC fandom's concern. Just,review please!**


	3. Filler 1

**A.N.: Sorry for the delay, guys. It's been tough to get past some stuff. Yeah, I blame the looming therapy sessions. Eh. We all are insane, anyways. **

Shock looked up when he heard the bell ding, signalling that someone had entered the diner. He was surprised to see Jessica. She came to the diner almost every day to meet Keith, but that didn't happen for about a half an hour, and she always just plopped down in their booth in the corner. Instead, she went straight to the counter.

"Hi, Shock!" she said cheerfully. You would never believe it if someone told you that she was dying.

"Hey, Jess," he said with a smile, "What's up?" he asked as he handed her a menu.

"I've been wanting to talk to you. It's been so crazy lately, trying to keep up with everything."

"Okay. I'll just get you something, then we can talk. Eggs?" She shook her head.

"I'm trying to eat healthier. Do you have anything fruity?"

"Smoothies." She laughed.

"Yeah, there are a lot of them here." He chuckled too.

"So, what type?"

"Surprise me. I trust your judgement."

He turned around, contemplating.

"Close your eyes," he said after a minute of thinking. She did as he said. He quickly grabbed some carrots, a peach, white grape juice, vanilla yogurt, and a banana. This sounded appealing to him at least, so he hoped it would work. He worked on that for a minute before pouring it into a glass.

"Here."

"Thanks!" she said. He sat down next to her, turning to face her.

"So, what's up?" he asked.

"I just... things are so crazy. I'm trying to keep up with everything. And everyone, too."

"It must be insane."

"Yeah. And that's part of it, too. I wanted to thank you for staying with me, even though you know what's-what's happening."

"What'd you expect? None of us will abandon you." She smiled at him, taking a sip of the smoothie.

"This is really good."

"It's healthy too. I figured you'd want to have, like, fruits and veggies and stuff." She laughed.

"And stuff? Wow, you're great with words." He smiled.

"Can I ask you a question?" Jessica crossed her legs, looking at him quizzically.

"Yeah! What's up?"

"Why do you guys sign up for this? Isn't it a burden?"

"Well, isn't everything?" she asked, taking a sip, "Shock, what you've gotta understand is that the power is ancient. I've traced it back to the era of Alexander the Great."

"He was gay," Shock piped up.

"Wait, really?" Jessica shook her head, chuckling, "Not the point. Anyways, this is older than any of us can imagine. We can't just break the tradition."

"Would you if you could?"

"Well, then I wouldn't have my skill, and there'd be no one to stop the Pranksters."

"What about them? Are they as ancient?"

"Nah, that's not how it goes. The Electric Company, also known as Omnes Heroes Temporis, has been fighting everything. And I mean everything, like, the Huns and Spartans and stuff."

Shock took a moment to contemplate this.

"Do you think the Pranksters will get to that level?" Jessica shrugged.

"Maybe. I mean, I've always considered Manny to be a bit psychopathic, but who knows? We could just stumble upon a terrorist cell or something." Shock laughed, trying to imagine Jessica surrounded by terrorists.

"Or assassins," he suggested. She grinned.

"Or maybe just a kid who's gonna jump off a bridge."

"What _would _you guys do?"

"I'd just talk. Lisa... call the police. Hector would just try to convince him to get off. And Keith..." she thought for a moment, "Keith would sing that Billy Joel song where the guy was on the bridge and Billy Joel got him off."

Shock laughed.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Jessica laughed out loud.

"What about you? What would you do?"

"I'm not sure." Jessica nodded.

The bell rang. Keith was there, standing at the door.

"Hi, Keith!" Jessica said, enveloping him in a huge hug.

"Jess, gotta go pee!" He ran to the restroom, leaving behind a laughing Jessica and Shock. Jessica wiped a tear away.

"So, seriously, how's medical school going?"

"It's okay. And I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Medical school? Shock, I'm twelve."

"I know. I mean, like, if you ever need to talk about that type of stuff, I already know what's going on." Jessica smiled.

"You're the best, man." He smiled.

"I try."


End file.
